HOSTAGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH GUY DELISLE at DIGBOSTON

HOSTAGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH GUY DELISLE

 

In the gripping new graphic novel Hostage (D+Q), award-winning French cartoonist Guy Delisle retells the story of the kidnapping and abduction of Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André, who was held hostage in Chechnya in 1997. Over 400-plus black and blue pages, Delisle uses the unique quirks of the comics medium to tell a harrowing tale of hope and survival. The artist is coming to Harvard Book Store on Monday, May 15, and I had an opportunity to ask him about this amazing new project and the incredible amount of work that went into it …

 

How did Christophe’s story first come your way?

 

I read his story first in the newspaper, then I had the chance to meet him because I was visiting a friend at the NGO where he was working. I was very curious to ask him questions but I thought he doesn’t want to talk about that. Being kidnapped is certainly a traumatic experience …  

 

I started to ask him a few questions and he was really open about it. At the end I thought it was so incredible that it would be nice to do a book about that, and he agreed.

 

It’s amazing he was able to remember every detail and count the days. He was trying to keep his mind so active but also his mind off of his family and his loved ones.

 

For him every morning it was important that he was keeping track of time, he didn’t know where he was and there was no reason why he was there. The only certain thing was the time, so he was keeping track.

 

As far as memory goes, I recorded him in 2003 and I worked on the final version of the book in 2015, so I was glad to have the previous recording because his memory was fresh. I also had a document from the NGO right after this happened. I worked with the recordings and that document.

 

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON]


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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART TWO)

We continue our talk with underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) at Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest: Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story fromDrawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21.
Interview part 1 HERE.

 

DIGBOSTON: You could say she was a loudmouth. She wrote columns in newspapers, she was a socialist. There’s so much to her.
Peter Bagge: She lived a long life, she was in her 30′s when she became very active in politics in general and more specifically in birth control.

Her politics, as is the case with most people, evolved over time.

You know that adage, if you are young and not a liberal, you don’t have a heart, if you are old and you aren’t conservative, you don’t have a brain. That would describe her. It’s not like she did some 180.

Some people would say to me, did you know she voted Republican? Technically yes, that was true, she was more supportive by the 1950s of Republicans, but that was only because the only people that would support birth control were the Republicans. By then, the Democrats, a huge part of their constituency were blue-collar Catholics.

Yet one more irony, the one person in Washington who was the most upfront about legal access to birth control was a senator from Connecticut, Prescott Bush, George W. Bush’s grandfather—who lost re-election for sticking his neck out for birth control.

 

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

 

 

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART ONE)

 

Underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) joins Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest work, including Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story from Drawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21 at 7pm.

 

DigBoston: The most obvious question, and the one you are probably getting a lot, is why Margaret Sanger?
Peter Bagge: I wish I had a short snappy answer to that question! For a while now I’ve been doing nonfiction pieces, mainly for a publication called Reason magazine.

Short journalistic comic strips, most recently I’ve been doing short biographical strips. It felt like it was starting to build up to the possibility of doing a book-length one. I ran a bunch of names by this one particular publisher who I thought would be interested, and they were the ones who published it, Drawn and Quarterly.

One of the names I ran past was Margaret Sanger. What was interesting was the other subjects I had in mind were all literary figures for the most part. I was very interested in women writers from the mid 20th century, from between the two wars. The reason I was interested in them, besides liking their work, was that they lived very autonomous, independent lives. Though these women weren’t the least bit masculine, they lived their lives as if they were men.

They didn’t let their gender hinder them from doing anything. And that made me wonder about birth control. I also couldn’t help but notice these women didn’t get pregnant, they weren’t saddled with a bunch of kids.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of birth control did they use, what was available if they were using anything.

Peter Bagge - Self-Portrait

Peter Bagge - Self-Portrait / Author Photo (Drawn and Quarterly)

While researching that, I kept getting taken to Margaret Sanger. I kept running across incredible contradictory things that people would say about Sanger.

 

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

 

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Cosmic Treadmill: 'MARBLE SEASON' by Gilbert Hernandez (review) - FORCES OF GEEK

Cosmic Treadmill: ‘MARBLE SEASON’ by Gilbert Hernandez (review)

The Cosmic Treadmill takes us back in time to those summer days of reading comics, collecting baseball cards and watching everyone grow up around you, even if it seemed as if you would never get older.

This year saw the release of Marble Season from Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets). 

As the summer starts to wind down and kids go back to school, what themes will resonate from this book to an all ages audience?

The book is not merely a nostalgic retread of Hernandez’ childhood, but rather an account of growing up, family and the livelihood of a neighborhood when kids still played outside.


MARBLE SEASON
Writer/Artist: Gilbert Hernandez
Price: $21.95
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
UPC: 9781770460867
BUY IT HERE

Los Bros. Hernandez have been publishing Love and Rockets for over 30 years.  

Marble Season is an excursion to the past, referencing the dawn of Marvel Comics in the ‘60s,Adventures of Superman on TV with George Reeves and Topps narrative trading cards Mars Attacks.

Brothers Huey and Junior join in the reading fun and both share access to Junior’s box of comics—that is until Mom puts an embargo on comics for the both of them until Junior gets his grades up. Their younger brother, the toddler Chavo is too young to read, and prefers to tear the covers from the books. 

Around the neighborhood are a whole host of boys and girls of differing ages, playing marbles, stickball and even a It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World party.


Everyone seems to get along, except for when they don’t, which usually ends up in an honest to goodness old fashioned fight with little boy punches and slaps (remember those?). 


A tomboy swings her stickball bat, some bad kids move into the neighborhood briefly for the summer and the star football player decides he is more interested in cooking than playing ball.

The little vignettes of Huey walking around the neighborhood as time passes takes the concept of Billy in Family Circus running around the block and elegantly captures the sense of time passing in the summer, and the myriad of adventures one finds themselves experiencing. The story is told through the eyes of Huey and Junior but also with the gift of play and imagination. 
[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for April 17, 2013



COMICS


What’s the best thing about comics? It’s that all ages can read them! This weekend’s Boston Comic Con kicks off with an All Ages Comic Book Panel at Noon Saturday. Our resident Brony and Mathematical genius Clay N. Ferno is hosting his first Boston Panel, every pony should come! Panel guests will be Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb (Adventure Time) along with Andy Price (My Little Pony). The stand alone issue of Adventure Time #15 hits shelves today with a new look at the land of Ooo. … Next Week, Andy Price stitches up a unicorn pony tale in the form of My Little Pony Micro Series #3: Rarity. Come get your books signed and ask great questions! … Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets) also debuts the highly anticipated all ages graphic novel of his childhood Marble Season from Drawn & Quarterly this week. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

SAT. APRIL 20 - 12 pm (Noon)
BOSTON COMIC CON
ALL AGES COMIC PANEL

MAIN LOBBY PANEL ROOM
SHELLI PAROLINE (ADVENTURE TIME)
BRADEN LAMB (ADVENTURE TIME, ICE AGE, DUCK TALES)
ANDY PRICE (MY LITTLE PONY)
BOSTON COMIC CON PANEL HOSTED BY THE LEAGUE’S CLAY N. FERNO!

EARTH PRIME TIME: MIRIAM KATIN ON ‘LETTING IT GO’ AT BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH 3.19.13

MIRIAM KATIN - LETTING IT GO

Born in Hungary during World War II, Miriam Katin is a child of the war. In 2006 Drawn and Quarterly published her first graphic novel at the age of 63, her story of surviving the Holocaust, We Are on Our Own. Miriam signs her new book about her relationship with her family and the country that caused so much pain at Brookline Booksmith on Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. The followup to her first acclaimed graphic novel is called Letting It Go. We had the honor of asking Miriam some questions about her work and how she got in to the intimidating art of autobiographical graphic storytelling at an age when many others might consider retiring.

DIGBOSTON: How did you get started working on comics after your career as an animator?

MIRIAM KATIN: It was around 2000 and I was working in Disney’s New York studio. Some young animators who did comics decided to self publish their stories and they started a series of anthologies titled Monkeysuit.

They asked me if I had anything to contribute and in my desk, for ten years I had a rough for a short comic. I competed that story and they published it. It received very favorable reviews and this encouraged me to continue.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW: NEW YORKER COVER ARTIST ADRIAN TOMINE SIGNS ‘NEW YORK DRAWINGS’ AT HARVARD BOOK STORE

Contemporary comic book artist, writer, cartoonist and New Yorker cover artist Adrian Tomine signs his most current Drawn and Quarterly hardcover at Harvard Book Store tomorrow. New York Drawings is an anthology of New Yorker covers, record covers, and character sketches from in and around New York City. Adrian spend most of his life on the West Coast, cultivating a cult following for his Optic Nerve mini-comic. Here is an exclusive interview with Adrian touching upon his successes, the comic market, and insight into the process behind his signature clean line style.

Thanks for taking the time with us today, Adrian. The preface to New York Drawings is a short autobiographical strip wherein you find yourself at a New Yorker Christmas Party. Like a true artist, you find yourself full of self doubt, even at a point where you can be proud of your successes. Is there a lesson in humility there or was this a passing observation?

Well, I didn’t intend for it to be didactic, but I suppose if someone is putting together a book of all their work for The New Yorker, it wouldn’t hurt to add a drop or two of humility. Basically, it’s just a little story I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while now, but didn’t know what to do with.

I initially sat down to write a more traditional prose introduction for the book, and then it just seemed like it would be more interesting to do it as a comic.

Optic Nerve had it’s origins as a self-published mini-comic. Do you feel like the kind of success you had at an early age in comics could be duplicated in the market today?

  I think the market has changed so much since then that what was considered “success” for me at an early age wouldn’t really register now. I was elated when five copies of my mini-comic sold at the local comic shop—now people can track the number of “hits” to their website, they get big advances for their first book, etc.

If I was any kind of success back then, it was mainly because the stakes were so low!

Adrian Tomine - New York Drawings Cover

 

Was the leap from autobiographical comics to more in-depth stories about other characters a natural move? In other words, how were you able to start writing more complex stories and building your ‘world’? Did your English education at UC Berkeley drive your creative writing?

My college classes certainly exposed me to a lot of literature that would’ve been too intimidating for me to tackle on my own, but I don’t know that that had a direct influence on my comics. I mean, if you look at the stuff I was doing back then and then you look at the books I was reading for school, it would be pretty hard to find any kind of direct correlation.

I was reading the best literature ever created and I was drawing the worst comics of my career.

I think that progression towards longer, more fictionalized stories is really the result of a rather embarrassing competitive streak. I was watching a lot of other cartoonists achieve great success and acclaim with ambitious “graphic novels,” and I felt like I needed to try to at least get in the race. And now I’ve reverted back to short stories, so I guess we know now how that all played out.

Were you the first of your friends to get published and get attention for your work? Optic Nerve put you on the map as a young man.

You assume that I had friends! I actually started doing Optic Nerve in response to being an unlikeable teenage loner, so it wasn’t like I was part of some cartooning community then. And when I did eventually make some friends in the comics world, they were basically already seasoned veterans, so any little accomplishment I might’ve experienced wasn’t anything new to them.

You are also known for multiple record covers, illustrations, and your famous New Yorker covers. New York Drawings is a hardcover book composed of many of these covers, skits, and sketches. Even your sketches are of high quality and have a clean line. Are you still thrilled when you see The New Yorker on the newsstand with the logo typeset over your art?

I don’t think that drawing a cover for The New Yorker is the kind of job I can ever take for granted or become blasé about, mainly because of all the work I do, it’s the thing that still garners the biggest response by a wide margin.

If I told some in-law that I got nominated for a Harvey Award or whatever, they would have no idea what I was talking about.

But especially around here, The New Yorker is a big part of people’s everyday life. 

Adrian Tomine - Shortcomings page 21

 You capture people in these little ‘moments’ that life sets us up with. Does the young man help the struggling mom with a baby carriage? He seems like he wants to, but doesn’t want to miss the train. Two readers are sharing the experience of reading the same book, stuck between stations, pausing for just a moment as their two trains are aside each other for a tiny second. These are moments that will make you feel alive and connected for a second, especially in a big city. Do you feel like an outsider in New York City? You appear to feel very at home after your transplant there.

Like most cartoonists, I think I’m kind of an observer no matter where I go. Even after living in Berkeley for fifteen years, I still felt like someone who had moved there from Sacramento. And it’s the same thing here in New York.

I’ve lived here since 2004 and I still feel like the typical West Coast transplant who complains about the weather and the bad burritos.

Recently I’ve come across two of your books, Scenes from an Impending Marriage and Shortcomings. Impending Marriage was a short and fun read about you and your wife Sarah preparing your wedding. This honest and fun book gave nods to Family Circus and Peanuts while being set in the very real world nightmare of picking guests and a DJ for the wedding. In stark contrast, Shortcomings was the story of a man sorting out why his relationships suffer. In Shortcomings, there is humor, but the laughs are more subtle and conversational. Also, race, gender, and sexuality play a huge part in Ben Tanaka’s biases in the book. Does your writing and planning process change to adapt to the kind of book you are working on?

Of course, yeah. When I was writing Shortcomings, I went out of my way to block out thoughts of how it would be received. I knew it was the kind of book that would suffer the more I worried about a hypothetical audience’s reaction. Whereas with the wedding book, I had a very specific target audience (the guests at our wedding) in mind completely, and I was basically trying to create something they’d enjoy. 

Adrian Tomine - Scenes from and Impending Marriage

Do you draw digitally or with pen and ink?

I do all my drawing with ink on paper, and just use computers to color the artwork.

Many will continue to aspire to reach some of the creative milestones you have under your belt, Adrian. Please continue to inspire. In what ways do you see challenging yourself next? Do you have any book projects coming up?

I’m working on a book of short stories in comics form, and I’m challenging myself to approach each story in some different way.

I chose this format mainly because I have a two-year-old daughter at home now, and getting any kind of work done is something of a challenge.

But I think it will be a useful book for me because in a lot of ways, I’m still trying to figure out what my own style is, and it’s nice to not feel locked into one big story for the next five years.

Adrian Tomine - WFMU, New York Drawings

ADRIAN TOMINE DISCUSSES NEW YORK DRAWINGS THU 10.4.12 HARVARD BOOK STORE CAMBRIDGE 617.661.1515 7PM/ FREE @HARVARDBOOKS

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: GUY DELISLE - JERUSALEM: CHRONICLES FROM THE HOLY CITY

Guy Delisle will be at Harvard Book Store tonight at 7pm for a free signing and discussion of his travel journal from Jerusalem entitled, Jerusalem: Chronicles From the Holy City.

Canadian born cartoonist and animator Guy Delisle lived in the Holy City of Jerusalem for a year with his wife and two young children. His wife worked for Doctors Without Borders as an administrator as Guy settled in to raise his children, find a studio, sketch constantly and teach cartooning when called upon.

Drawn and Quarterly debuts his hardcover graphic novel this month, and Guy joins us in the States from his permanent home in the South of France to promote his book with a slide show and discussion about his experiences in one of the oldest cities in the world.

I was immediately intimidated by this assignment. How can I do the work justice when I know absolutely nothing about the politics of the Holy Land? My base understanding is that the place is to be revered as the birthplace of civilization and of Western religion. I’m uneducated on even current events or recent conflicts in the region. I expected to come out of this review feeling dumb.Jerusalem - page by Guy Delisle

 Thankfully, Guy’s book was a travel journal of his life there as someone with knowledge on par with mine. Delisle’s cartooning and illustrations of the intensely complex subsections of the city throughout the book transformed my vague conceptions of the West Bank into realized maps.

There is the culture built upon conflict. Conflict begets villages, towns and separation. Checkpoints and automatic weapons meld seamlessly with the scenes of vendors selling fruit in the market.

At least six major religions have a righteous stronghold and ancient holy buildings in the Old City. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RNcIjW1-k I have the utmost respect for the work that Doctors Without Borders does and learned for the first time how difficult it must be to travel in the region on such a mission. All vehicles are subject to search. Bombings, shootings and violence are daily occurrences.

I imagined myself in Guy’s shoes adjusting and exploring all the old world had to offer.

The book illustrates the logistics of living in the city as a foreigner and seeing the place for the first time. He was responsible for getting his kids to school and finding places for play. There is so much honest exploration and learning exposed in this book.

Guy is a curious explorer, hopping into the Arab minibuses with a backpack to check out the city, draw and ask questions.

Chapters are broken up by months, and high holiday celebrations of the major religions are highlighted with an observant eye. There is a humorous reveal about the author’s spiritual beliefs that I identified with about halfway through the book. To be a non-believer in the Holy Land you are on the surface neutral, and at the same time without allies in conflict. Guy shows that it is best to keep your atheist or agnostic beliefs to yourself and blend in wherever possible. My original expectations were surpassed by a desire to travel more and carry a sketch book with me more often. The humorous human element of tense political and religious contexts in real situations brought me genuine happiness and joy. The illustrative maps and symbols in the work gave me a better understanding of the Middle Eastern region than all of my education and news input combined.

Guy Delisle has given us the history of the world told through the eyes of an outsider. He tells the story of how an artist and his family can integrate into a cultural mix thousands of years in the making.

GUY DELISLE PRESENTS JERUSALEM: CHRONICLES FROM THE HOLY CITY WED 4.25.12 HARVARD BOOK STORE 1256 MASS AVE. CAMBRIDGE (617) 661-1515 7PM/ FREE @HARVARDBOOKS HARVARD.COM EARTH PRIME TIME: GUY DELISLE SIGNING FOR ‘JERUSALEM’ AT HARVARD BOOK STORE by clay-fernald

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

OK so this review was a preview of Guy’s signing. I went, got some pictures and asked about process. Guy uses photo references, his own sketches and google image search for his drawings. The clerk actually quoted me in his intro!

Guy Delisle has given us the history of the world told through the eyes of an outsider. He tells the story of how an artist and his family can integrate into a cultural mix thousands of years in the making.

Personalized Sketch!